In one case a major metropolis was flooded within hours, leaving thousands homeless, millions without power, transportation and businesses shut down, and a mass human crisis. In the other case, three years of sunshine and blue skies have left water...

In a surprise move, the Annenberg Foundation has suspended its controversial plan to build a $50-million visitors center in the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve.
Some wetlands proponents had criticized the proposal, first revealed by The Times in...

The Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve stretches from Westchester to the marina, 640 acres of precious and precarious wildlife habitat that over the years has survived the dumping of soil from nearby construction, trampling, littering and other...

It began with an albino parakeet named Whitey.
As a child, Walter Fuller would play Johnny Cash on the record player in his bedroom and let Whitey out of his cage. Whitey would fly around and alight on the back of a chair or the corner of a nightstand...

As land manager of the Ballona Wetlands just south of Marina del Rey, ecologist Richard Brody thinks he has a "dream" job — but one that comes with an unusual caveat.
Along with being able to name nearly every type of flower, tree and animal...

In "Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits" and "Secret Son," Laila Lalami probed individual lives to illuminate the contemporary social complexities of her native Morocco. She pulls back for an even broader perspective in this rich novel...

A new Halloween Horror Nights maze at Universal Studios Hollywood will re-create the Oscar-winning man-to-beast transformation from the 1981 film "An American Werewolf in London.""An American Werewolf in London" tells the story of...

The unrepentantly vulgar and captivating German coming-of-age film "Wetlands" gives new meaning to the term "naughty bits."
The gutter isn't where its mind and heart are, though. Based on a novel by Charlotte Roche, the movie's...

The California Coastal Commission has asked the developer of Playa Vista to remove drains in the Ballona Wetlands that the agency said were not approved and have siphoned water from the ecological preserve.
Andrew Willis, an enforcement analyst, said...

LAS VEGAS – Wielding signs and slogans, several hundred demonstrators rallied Monday to support beleaguered cattle rancher Cliven Bundy and his family in a turf battle against the federal government.
They had responded to an alert promising a new...

LAS VEGAS — Wielding signs and slogans, several hundred demonstrators rallied Monday to support beleaguered Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy after authorities began to seize his cattle from federal land.
Protesters had responded to an alert that...

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration proposed a long-awaited rule on Tuesday to clarify that the Clean Water Act protects wetlands near rivers and waterways fed by seasonal thaws and rains — a decision that could particularly shield water sources in...

LAS VEGAS -- From the cab of his old pickup, Cliven Bundy watched the trucks congregate on the horizon near his ranch some 80 miles north of here. His ongoing range war with the federal government, Bundy said, has heated up yet again.
Officials...

Climate change is already affecting every continent and ocean, posing immediate and growing risks to people, an international panel of scientists warned Monday.
The longer society delays steps to cut the release of planet-warming greenhouse gases, the...

TECOPA, Calif. — Under a canopy of gleaming stars, Janet Foley made her way across a dab of marshlands surrounded by harsh Mojave Desert terrain, her headlamp fixed on a live trap the size of a loaf of bread.
She peered inside, smiled and said,...

Federal officials gave a major boost Wednesday to the city's plans to turn the Los Angeles River into an urban oasis for recreation and an inviting locale for new commercial and residential development.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it has...

Every two weeks, a swath of Louisiana the size of this city's French Quarter vanishes into the Gulf of Mexico. Since the 1930s, the state has lost nearly 1,900 square miles, a quarter of its coastal land area.
For decades, oil and gas companies cut...

Imperial Beach, at the southwest corner of the United States and a short hop from Tijuana, is the poor cousin of Southern California beach towns. Dicey areas have detracted from attractive, sandy beaches and good surfing, so the city is trying to...